Being woken up before your alarm goes off is never a good feeling, but it can feel even worse when it's still the middle of the night and the noise that wakes you up also stops you from falling back to sleep.
That's exactly what keeps happening to one mum, who took to Mumsnet to vent her frustration after she kept being woken up by her neighbours at 4 am - because that's the time of day they chose to do their washing.
Sharing her story anonymously, the mum explained she's woken up in the early hours of the morning by the sound of her neighbour's washing machine, and said the noise is driving her insane.
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She wrote: "We moved into our flat as tenants about 5-6 weeks ago. We have a young guy and girl above us but haven't met them yet, they are also tenants.
"Recently we keep getting woken up at around 4 am to this sound which we think is their washing machine. We heard it in the day this week so went up to ask what it is and if they could keep the noise to daytime hours but they wouldn't answer the door!
"Thinking I might need to put a note through the door but want to be sure it is a washing machine."
The mum believes her neighbours are doing their washing at night in order to save money during the crisis of rising energy costs but says she's "really struggling" with the noise and wants them to stop.
She added: "I'm aware with the energy costs it might be more economical for them to run it through the night but I'm really struggling to get back to sleep once woken up at 4 am so can I ask them not to do this?"
Commenters on the Mumsnet post were split - with many saying they also put their washing machine on during the night so that their clothes are ready to be hung out to dry in the morning.
One person said: "I put my washing machine on a timer for 5 am so it’s freshly washed at 7 and I can put it on the airer before work. Could it be a similar situation?"
While another added: "It’s tricky - I set my machine to be finished when I wake up. Means I can hang the washing out during the day and it’s dry when I get home. I’d be loathed to change that I’m afraid."
And a third said: "It's probably on a timer so they are not awake when it goes on. I think it's really reasonable to go and speak to them in the day or evening."
But others agreed that the noise would annoy them, and told the mum to speak to her landlord if her neighbours were being unreasonable.
Someone said: "How frequently is this happening? I might tolerate it once a week but not more than that. I would try again to speak to them in person before putting a note through the door though."
As another added: "Speak to your letting agent or landlord. They can check the terms of the lease for the building, as there may be something prohibiting the running electrical items overnight."
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